Another great beer from Maine Beer Company. As usual, this beer is dry rather than sweet, crisp, and has a nice hoppy profile without reliance on big citrus notes. Very balanced with a long bitterness, and enough very dry malt to sustain the piney and herbal hops. A lighter colored amber than many, and the malt is downplayed in favor of the hops. Delicious!

a. Bold and brown out of the pint bottle. Full two inch tan head. Outstanding lacing on the glass.

s. Not too many complex notes. Hops, malt beer.

t. Again Malt on the front and hops no the back. Not a lot going on, but great balance and full flavor.

m. excellent carbonation.

o. outstanding beer. I was a bit leary of this brewery because so many maine beers are watery, but they have hit a home run with the first one I tried. Will be looking for another. Will revisit this one.

Enjoyed out of a brown 500 mL bottle with that classic Maine Beer Co. labeling that somehow manages to be unique and nondescript all at the same time. Marked with a bottling date of 4/15/14, so this one is only about 20 days away from the recommended 90 day 'drink by' period. Poured into a 50 cL glass stein with a textured exterior.

Appearance - Poured with standard vigor, which yields a healthy two finger cream colored head. Retention is excellent, and as it recedes, it leaves heavy sheets of lacing along the sides of the glass. As I drink it down, those sheets continue, showing rings where the level of the liquid stopped between swallows. The color of the body is a deep mahogany red with chestnut low lights. Through the thicker glass of the stein, it almost looks straight brown until I hold it up to the light, at which point the beautiful hue is revealed.

Smell - A pretty nice blend of the aroma profiles you'd expect from an amber--caramel malt, toasted bread and faint pine--alongside a fruitier burst of citrus from the amped up hopping. The fruit isn't overpowering enough to kick this out of the style category, but it does make for a more interesting smell.

Taste - As with the aroma, this is pretty classic amber ale, with a nice healthy malt profile with grain sweetness and subtle caramel flavors as well as a slightly bitter finish from the toasted malts. There is also a complementary presence of the citrus and pine that kick this one up to another level and make it more unique than most amber ales.

Mouthfeel - Medium bodied and moderate carbonation, with a slightly juicy feel on the tongue that makes it very easy to drink.

Overall, just a fantastic beer. It's not the first "hoppy red" I've had, but it might be the best. It manages to kick up the standard amber ale flavor profiles without going so far that it turns it basically into an IPA. This one is still firmly in the American Amber category, but with an added level of interest.